My former colleague John Seiler has an interesting blog about Sen. John McCain’s increasingly belligerent stance toward Russia. This is a section from a New York Times article: “The intensifying warfare in the former Soviet republic of Georgia has put a new focus on the increasingly hard line that Senator John McCain has taken against Russia in recent years, with stances that have often gone well beyond those of the Bush administration and its focus on engagement.”
Russia is a fairly nasty regime, but it’s highly questionable whether Russia was mainly at fault in Georgia and it’s certainly a disturbing prospect that neoconservatives want the U.S. to intervene in a dispute over an irrelevant piece of real estate. Do we really want another Cold War with Russia? The conservatives I know seem to thrill to the prospect of some national campaign to fight terror, to confront China and now to relive the old days of battling the Russian regime. Conservatives used to believe that our nation should protect itself rather than police the world, but they now believe that America should be everywhere all the time. Money is no object to these folks, who prattle about “freedom” but are as willing as liberals to spend taxpayers into oblivion. The Left likes to spend taxpayer money on social programs, but the neocons like to spend it on militaristic adventures (and they like social programs, too). Russia, however, will be less likely to roll over for Washington than most of the other little nations we tend to invade or bully.
Here is an excellent piece by Jacob Hornberger from the Future of Freedom Foundation about the Founding Fathers’ antipathy toward militarism, imperialism and standing armies. Yet the embrace by the conservative movement of perhaps the most militaristic of Americans senators suggests that the conservative movement mainly wants to conserve policies that would be anathema to the nation’s founders.
McCain’s statements strike me as little more than election posturing. His argument for himself is predicated on his supposed greater experience and ability to deal with (read: deal aggessively and not be a wuss like that skinny guy over there on the, ahem, left) foeign policy problems. He also has a long way to go to bring the right wing into his camp because he’s been historically apostate on some issues (which to those folks is well-nigh unforgiveable). So spouting some I’m -tougher- than-you nonsense makes sense for him. It’s disturbing, to be sure, and shows how far into the pocket of the Republican right he’s willing to go to get elected, leaving his former independent self bleeding on the side of the road behind him, but it’s hardly a surprise. Republicans have played the bellicosity card for generations.
I am glad to read an editorial by you that I can agree with. While Russia certainly seems to be overstepping it’s bounds this isn’t a black-and-white situation when it comes to who the “bad guys” are. The Georgians did attack South Ossetia to try and reassert control from the area that declared independence and wishes to rejoin with Russia. I have no clue why McCain would say something as foolish as “We are all Georgians.”
Does anybody really believe that after half a century of limiting our standoffs with Russia to proxy wars, even in the name of stopping communism, all of a sudden we’re going to send in our military for one of their former territories that’s involved in a rebellion? I don’t think so.
Any american who backed the invasion of afghanistan and Iraq by american forces should be in complete agreement with russia’s invasion of Georgia. Georgians murdered 1400 russians in Ossetia. Now russia has retaliated by hunting down the georgian terrorists who committed these acts. This is really no different from the 911 scenario. So at least be intellectually honest. Pick a stance and stick by it. Don’t judge an act by who’s participating in it. Since 90% of americans favored the invasion of Afghanistan 90% should also support the russians.
Searched “McCain war with Russia” and found this. I don’t think this can be dismissed as “election posturing.” I have real fears of the Reds (The Republicans in this case) seeing this as a last ditch election fear mechanism because they feel they’ve gotten poll number traction from it. But McCain’s near insanity that likely comes from his imprisonment make it not just a cheap scare tactic. It has the same simple minded mass middle aged white under educated appeal that war with Iraq had.
I pray the public doesn’t fall for this again. McCain WOULD get us into another war. I can see that clear as day.